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Once only available as painted door option with a heavy warning about south facing doors, now readily available. Gliderol were the first to offer us black sectional doors made from pre-finished steel and since then Garage Door Systems and Teckentrup also have pre-finished black doors within their offerings. For what seems like such an obvious standard colour option to the consumer it’s been a long time coming.

We had always been told that black sectional garage doors absorbed more heat and were therefore more likely to de-laminate and so weren’t a good idea, particularly in south facing conditions. This is still the case with Hormann who ask you to sign a disclaimer for black doors which is possibly the most effective means of turning a customer off a product and most likely the brand too. Surly though Hormann wouldn’t do this without good reason ? We have ourselves had a black Gliderol panel de-laminate though we have no way of knowing if the same thing wouldn’t have happened if the door was another colour.

So are pre-finished black sectionals an affordable way to give the consumer what they want and the doorway to more sales or if we ever get a hot summer will we be replacing them all?

In the last few years there have been many newcomers to the sectional garage doors market and slowly but surely some of them seem to be making a big contribution to a change in the styles and sizes of sectional doors we sell.

Go back 5 years and the only sectional doors that were readily available were a small selection of slightly different Georgain panel designs from different manufacturers, a narrow horizontal rib and a wide horizontal rib door; all with a woodgrain finish. Of course other styles and finishes have always been available but on a long lead time and at a much higher cost. Now with companies like Teckentrup Depot and Gliderol there is an incresed range of panel styles and more importantly the smooth finish as a no cost option. This has introduced some good healthy competition into the UK sectional market. Not a conclusive test by any means but in our own business we’ve found that without a price or lead time difference most of our customers prefer a smooth finish sectional door to one with a woodgrain finish.

The other big reason brands like these and Garage Door Systems have been able to create a market for themselves is the ability to mix and match heights & widths in the price lists which can often save money in the avoidance of cut down charges and can save weeks (or months!) off lead times. The pricelists are simple with good continuity on lead times accross the product ranges which are things that Novoferm and the industry leaders Hormann/Garador could learn a thing or two from.

As the world gets ever more environmentally conscious and energy prices rise people are becoming and/or wanting to become more aware of how much energy and money they’re wasting. When the garage is an integral part of the house the garage door is usually the largest opening in the home and since many houses have the boiler in the garage the potential for energy loss is huge.

What I think is needed is a proper energy rating like there is for fridges, dishwashers, windows etc. I know that most manufacturers of insulated roller garage doors and sectional garage doors publish the U value of their doors but to most people this means nothing. An example of what a simple energy rating chart could look like is shown below.

This chart is something that most people are now familiar with from white goods and is something everyone can understand. Garage doors being rated in this way would help more people to understand both the financial and environmental savings that having an insulated garage door can make.

The benefits to garage door installers and manufacturers? We’d sell more insulated garage doors! More people would replace their doors for the benefit of saving money in the long-term rather than waiting until the door is so old it’s no longer useable.

A judge in Rockford, Illinois, last month approved a $9,000,000 settlement to compensate for brain injuries sustained by a boy, then 4 years-old, who was trapped under a garage door. The young man likely activated the wall switch of the garage door operator and tried to exit the garage. Before he was able to leave the garage, the door contacted him and pinned him to the ground. The “contact” safety reverse system that was supplied with the garage door operator failed to reverse the door, and he was asphyxiated for 5 or more minutes before his mother found him. Paramedics worked to resuscitate the child for 45 minutes before a heart rate could be restored. As a result of the asphyxial event, the child suffered massive brain injuries. He requires custodial care for the rest of his life.

My View

This was an old door, and an old operator, and todays electric operators are designed to abviously be far more sensitive than this throughout the cycle. But what is worrying is that there is still plenty of these old things out there. We have been to look at plenty of jobs where these old operators after 15 years are still going strong and the customer is wanting the old operator connecting to the new door.

You can see from the photo below just how dangerous the door was, as it crushes an antifreeze container.